Knitting machine for making glove fingers



May l0, 1938. c. H. UsHER 2,117,122

KNITTING MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOVE FINGERS Filed Deo. 31, 1957 ATTORNEYS Patented May 10, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOVE FINGERS Application December 31, 1937, Serial No. 182,835

2, Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in knitting machines of the type known as glove iingering machines. In such a machine, a preknitted hand of a knitted glove is inserted in the machin-e and the fingers knitted thereon. In the machine under consideration here, each iinger is knitted separately, a tube of yarn of suitable diameter being knitted on the hand at the proper point and then formed intov a finger by closing the end of the tube.

It is necessary to rethread the machine and reinsert the glove being processed each time a finger is to be added; also, the machine often becomes snaggedf necessitating removal of the carriage from the bed in order to 'unravel the tangle of yarn. These operations seriously hamper production, by tying up the machine until the necessary adjustments or alterations are made. It is, therefore, the purpose of this invention to provide a glove fingering machine which has been so constructed as to increase, the availability of the machine for Work by cutting to a minimum the time consumed in starting each finger or in removing tangled threads if the yarn becomes snagged.

The particular features which enable meto accomplish this purpose with my invention willv appear more fully by a consideration of the specication read in conjunction with the drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a front view of the glove fingering machine;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machine of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the mounting for the connecting rod on the carriage.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the knitting machine consists of a reciprocable carriage I sliding on ways 2 over a bed 3. The bed 3 carries needles Il which are reciprocated to perform the knitting operation by cams carried on the carriage I. This operation and the construction to carry it out are well known in the art and will not, therefore, be further described. The thread 5 passes from a suitable tensioning device, not shown, down through an eye 6 to the bed 3 where the knitting takes place. The carriage likewise carries Iguard members 'I and 9 to keep the eyes of the needles open as they reciprocate from their lowest position, one guard l, located at the front of the carriage, being a` simple gooseneck member and the other, 9, being a brush held by a gooseneck clip. It is not necessarily mandatory that the guard members 'I and 9 be of different construction, the particular form illustrated being merely one embodiment. The preceding construction is well known in the knitting machine eld and, therefore, will not be described further.

As was explained earlier, the machine must be rethreaded and the glove reinserted each time a finger is started. To do this successfully, the carriage has to be operated manually and slowly for the first few reciprocations. After the iinger is started, the machine 4can be mechanically driven until the necessary iinger length has been knitted. By means about to be explained, I have provided for both manual and mechanical operation with the operating mechanism for both types of operation located at the back of the machine away from the carriage with the parts arranged so that the operator can readily control the machine both during rethreading and knitting.

Referring to Figs. l and 2, reciprocation of the carriage I is provided by a crank arm Ii] and a connecting rod II, the latter member being pivotally connected as at I3 to the carriage I. Crank arm II is pinned to a shaft I2 which is supported in bearings on the end of gooseneck extensions I5 of the frame of the machine. A pulley I1 is pinned to the shaft I2 and connected by belt I8 and a foot-controlled friction clutch not shown to a suitable rotating shaft. Crank arm II also has a handle I9 mounted on one end whereby the carriage I can be reciprocated manually if it is so desired. Thus, during the rethreading operation the operator, standing at the left of the machine as shown in Fig. 2, can move the carriage manually by handle I9, and then he can provide for continuous operation by working his foot controlled friction clutch and by the belt driven pulley taking over the driving work during the rest of the knitting operation. Particularly is it to be noted that during the continuous operation., the rotating parts are at the back of the machine away from the operator, which reduces the danger of injury to a minimum and provides clear View of the knitting operation.

Often during the knitting operation, the yarn snarls, and the operator must stop his machine to untangle the strands. By the construction described below, the operator can separate the carriage and bed without disconnecting the driving means, and can very easily gain accessibility to the needles carried by the bed, with a minimum of time wasted.

Referring to Fig. 3, connecting rod I I is threaded at the carriage end and passes through a two- Cil piece collar 20 mounted in the pivot I3 which is suitably journaled in a boss 2| built out from the carriage. The length of the connecting rod II necessary for proper reciprocation of the carriage is determined and the rod locked in position by nuts 2I and 22 which bear on washers 24 and 25. 'I'he two-piece collar Zll is mounted through the width of the pivot I3, see Fig. 3, so that with the nuts 2I and 22 in position, the connecting rod I I can turn around its longitudinal axis. Thus, the mounting at the carriage end not only allows the connecting rod to have a wrist pin motion by means of pivot I3, but also a twisting motion by reason of two-piece collar 20.

Referring again to Figs. 1 and 2, the Ways 2 consist of rods passing through bosses 26 in the frame of the machine and are secured in position by taper pins 21. Thus, as is shown in Fig. 2 by the dotted position of the parts, if the pins` 21 in the front way 2 are removed the rod may be removed and the carriage rotated to its dotted position where there is free accessibility to the bed mechanism. During the swinging of the carriage on the right way 2 (see Fig. 2), the pivot I 3 drops down and twists slightly around the connecting rod II, but due to the type of connection between the pivot I3 and the connecting rod II, there is no difficulty and the connecting rod need not be disconnected from the carriage. In this manner the bed of the knitting machine is made accessible for the operator to untangle yarn and at the same time the machine need not be disassembled or its alignment disturbed.

Having disclosed my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a glove finger knitting machine having a carriage for reciprocation over a needlecarrying bed, a pair of ways of circular cross-section for supporting said carriage, at least one of said ways being releasably secured to the frame of the machine, in combination with a crank operated connecting rod for reciprocating said carriage, said rod being pivoted at a point closely adjacent one of said ways at one end of the carriage, said pivot providing for both wrist-pin action and rotational twist of the connecting rod whereby when the way remote from the connecting rod pivot is removed the carriage may be rotated about the adjacent wair at right angles to the plane of reciprocation without disconnecting the connecting rod at the pivot.

2. In a glove nger knitting machine, the combination of a needle-carrying bed, a carriage mechanism for reciprocation over the needle-carrying bed so as to work the needles, a pair of ways for supporting said carriage mechanism, means to tip said carriage mechanism up and back while supported on one of th-e ways, so as to give access to the needle-carrying bed and the under part of said mechanism from the front part of the machine, a power shaft mounted at one side and back of that way which supports the carriage mechanism, a hand crank on the end of said power shaft and in approximately the vertical plane of said carriage way last mentioned, a connecting rod between said crank and the carriage and pivoted on the carriage just above the last mentioned carriage way, a power driving connection on said shaft in addition to the hand crank, all constructed and arranged to give easy access to the whole mechanism Without interference from the hand and power driving means.

CHARLES H. USHER. 

